Do you like to read? Have you ever stayed up waaaayyy to late reading? Then this is the spot for you. This is the spot for the eclectic book reader. I love all kinds of books, in any format. I can't wait to share my love of books with you.

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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Book Review
of First Visions: Second Sightsponsored by Bewitching Book
Tours

First Visions:Second Sight

By Heather Topham
Wood

Second Sight Book One

Blurb

Two years ago, 21-year-old
Kate Edwards became deathly ill and slipped into a coma. While unconscious, she
crept into the mind of a missing boy and awoke with the knowledge of his
location. Friends and family were skeptical and wary of her new ability to see
into the minds of others. Their fears prompted Kate to keep her psychic powers
a secret. Feeling alienated, she dropped out of college and spent most of her
days holed up at her mother's home.

Now another child has been
abducted. Police detective Jared Corbett seeks out Kate for her help in solving
the case. Reluctantly, Kate agrees and they must work together to bring
8-year-old Cori Preston home to her family. Although attracted to one another,
Jared has a girlfriend with ties to the abduction case and Kate is sarcastic
and guarded since her coma. With visions she can't control and an uncontrollable
attraction to the detective, she wonders if she can leave the past behind and
finally stop hiding from the world. Otherwise, Cori may be lost forever.

Excerpt:

I get you? What the hell was that
supposed to mean? His comments were making her feel unsure and suddenly
exposed. Quickly, she decided to change the subject. “Your aunt doesn’t have
any abilities?”

“No, she just always felt there was
more to the world than we could see. Most of her major life decisions are based
on answers she receives during tarot card readings. Some of her ideas are
pretty out there. But I learned from a young age how to take things with a
grain of salt,” he explained.

“Is she local?”

“Not anymore. Kind of lives off the
grid now. She met this guy from Maine
and moved up there about five years ago. He makes these amazing homemade brooms
and Aunt Lizzie helps him run his business.” He gave a fond smile as he thought
about his aunt. “You should meet her one day, you’d love her.”

“She sounds cool. Although
introductions might be a little awkward. How would you present me? As your
psychic sidekick?”

Before he could reply, the waitress
returned for their order. He ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and potato
salad. Against her better judgment, she went for the cheese fries with a side
of gravy.

Jared gave her an undisguised look
of distaste once the waitress had left. “How can you eat that crap? Sounds
disgusting.” As he let his gaze run over her body, she felt heat rise to her
cheeks. “Why are you so thin? You should be a hundred pounds overweight if you
eat that kind of stuff.”

Kate snorted. Jeez, she really
needed to stop snorting in his presence, talk about one of the least attractive
qualities. “I’m hardly thin, I saw your girlfriend. I look like Cartman from South Park
next to her.”

“Ugh, girls with their weight
issues,” he said and waved her off. “Want to show me that sketch now?”

She pulled the picture out of her
purse and he examined it thoroughly. After a moment of thoughtful
consideration, he remarked, “You did a good job, I have a few ideas of what
type of car it may be. Looks like an older model Ford or Toyota sedan. You said about ten years old
and dark green?”

She nodded and he continued, “I’ll
work on getting printouts of models from around that time period. See if we can
get an exact match.”

“I wish I could’ve seen the license
plate, but it wasn’t visible from the angle he brought Cori out in. The garage
was well-lit, but the rest of the house was dark. The layout of the house
looked like a Cape Cod style, but honestly he
dragged her through so quickly I couldn’t say for sure.” She sighed and then
took a sip of her diet soda. She figured ordering the diet soda helped to
cancel out the massive amounts of calories in the cheese fries.

“Do you have any idea of a
timeframe? How long she was in the car for?”

“She was unconscious for part of
the ride. She didn’t have a good sense of time, but I would say he was driving
for no more than twenty minutes while she was awake. It was very dark in the
house which makes me guess it could have been a lot later after he left the
Prestons. Not sure if he went anywhere first before heading to his house. Maybe
someone near Cori’s house will remember seeing that type of car. I can’t
imagine too many of the Prestons’ neighbors drive a hoopdie like that.”

He leaned back and chewed on his
thumb. “With the damage to the front, it would definitely stand out. Of course,
I wish we knew more, but this has been extremely helpful, Kate. Thank you.”

Closely, she watched his movements
as he patted her hand. It only lasted a second, but Kate felt the touch long
after he pulled away. Suffering a loss for words, Kate was grateful for the
interruption when his phone rang.

After answering, he put his hand
over the receiver and addressed her. “I’m going to step outside and take this.
It’s a call from another one of the detectives working on the case.” After her
nod, he disappeared out of the diner. While she waited, she fidgeted and tried
not to think about how right his hand
felt on hers.

A couple of minutes later, he
returned with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about that. He wanted to
let me know that they’re organizing a search party for tonight. The plan is to
comb a few wooded areas in town to look for Cori. We have other detectives
going door to door with Cori’s picture to see if anyone has any information,”
he explained solemnly. It was hard to not get drawn in by his intensity as he
spoke about Cori.

As the food arrived at the table,
she became convinced greasy food would help get rid of these butterflies she
was feeling. She saturated the fries with the gravy. After shoving a forkful in
her mouth, she closed her eyes and sighed. “These are heavenly.”

Jared gave her a dubious look while taking a bite of his
sandwich. “I can see your arteries clogging right before my eyes.”

She held out her fork to him. “Go
ahead and try them. You know you want to.”

He looked on the verge of denial,
but eventually caved. “Fine, but I have a feeling I’ll be regretting it.”

She grinned as he took a large
bite. He showed no reaction, but she giggled as he reached over and took
another large forkful. “I can’t tell if I like it. I better taste some more in
order to make a sound judgment.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said. She
grabbed a side dish plate and piled some on it. “Here, stop denying yourself.
One serving of disco fries will not kill you.” Her grin could not seem to fade
as she pushed the plate to his side of the table.

“So, that’s what these are called?
Now that you have me addicted to them, I can blame you when I get too fat to
chase anyone down,” he commented between bites. He cut his sandwich in half and
held out a piece to her. “Wanna share?”

She took the sandwich from him and
felt a jolt as their hands brushed. She was in big trouble and she knew it.
More of this and she was going to ask him to procreate on the table right then
and there. He returned her smile and seemed to also revel in the intimacy of
the moment. She wished she could’ve thrown his phone against the wall when it
rang again a second later. Kate felt embarrassed that she was weirding him out
when she noticed how uncomfortable he suddenly looked.

Author bio

Heather Topham Wood graduated from the
College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Working
full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook
by the Bay and Step in Style
magazine, she writes fiction novels in her spare time. She resides in Trenton,
New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop
culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.First
Visions is the first book in the Second Sight series.

Usually in a love triangle there is
not a lot of nobility, but what if there was a guy in a relationship with a
girl when he met another girl through circumstances and she was his soul
mate.And, here’s the thing, she likes
him too.But he’s a standup guy and
tries to convince himself that it’s really just friendship and compassion he
feels for girl two.

Then
something happens that causes them to have a “moment” and he stops it just as
it’s starting and tells her he can’t be that guy that cheats, especially since
her dad cheated on her mom.So he goes
back to his relationship, only it is not good and it hasn’t been for a long
time.

Now the question is:Do you stay in the initial relationship
because you were already in it (not married, just dating) or do you take the
chance that your true love is girl two whose heart you broke who may never
speak to you again?What would you
do?And what if she was psychic and
randomly saw into you memories, even one’s you may not want her to see… like
you and your relationship getting ready to have sex?Once you decide what you would do, you have
to read this book and see what Police Detective Jared did.

This book is an well written and an easy
read:sweet, romantic, exasperating
(honestly you just want to shake him until his teeth rattle for being so
dense), annoying (there is this girl that seriously needs to be bitch-slapped
into next week), sad, and charming.I
thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and it renewed my faith in true love.

I give this story 5 out of 5 clouds.

This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.

Sam Terra is having a bad week. He lost Molly, the woman he
secretly loves, when she vanished before his eyes at the exact same time
that ten percent of the inhabitants of Earth disappeared.

Naturally upset, Sam follows clues about the global
vanishing with questionable help from his friends including a misanthropic
co-worker and a childhood pal. When Molly reappears in the body of a man
during a night of monster-laden devastation, Sam finally learns the truth.
Not just about her, but about the planet Earth and the entire
cosmos surrounding it.

What we consider mundane reality, others consider
a game...and not a very good one. The whole thing is about to be shut
down.

Author
bio:

Eric
Griffith is the author of the sci-fi novel BETA TEST from Hadley Rille Books,
which Publishers Weekly called “an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale.”
By day he works as the features editor for PCMag.com. By night he sneaks
out of the house to write fictions. He currently lives in Ithaca, New York. You
can follow his online exploits daily via http://egriffith.info

Sam didn’t bother calling her.
He sprinted down the stairs, taking some two at a time, occasionally by
accident, carefully gripping the inside railing at each landing to spin his
large body to the next set of stairs. He concentrated on the steady rhythm of
his sneakers slapping each step, preparing for the next spin, knowing one
miscalculated stride, or worse, a trip, might prevent him from ever seeing
Molly again. He knew that was true, deep in his deep gut.

It was a surprise when he almost ran right into her
on the landing between the second and third floor.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Molly stood, arms
crossed over her chest.

“I. . .” Sam had to huff a couple of times to catch
his breath. “Worried . . . about you.”

“That part was just plain fun.” Her smile dropped
and her face darkened. “I’m leaving, Sam.”

“The company?”

“Not only the company.”

“The industry?”

“Stop being dense,” Molly said.

Sam put a hand self-consciously on his abdomen.

“I’m leaving . . . the city. California. The
country.”

“Why? How? When?”

“All great questions, Sammer.
I’ll answer the last one and say, ‘soon.’” Molly looked again at the vintage
Mickey Mouse watch on her wrist.

“You’re leaving for good?”

She didn’t say anything.

“Is someone coming to pick you up?” A boyfriend? She’d never mentioned one
before. “Are you moving away with someone?” Sam didn’t even know he’d backed
up, staggered really, until his back hit the wall of the grey stairwell, next
to a coiled fire hose in a glassed-in cabinet.

“Sam.” She went to him, put her hand on his chest.
“It’s nothing like that.”

Sam clasped her hand, his fingers swallowing hers
whole. He leaned down and she stood on her tip toes. Their lips met in the
middle. It was a kiss Sam wanted to last the rest of his lifetime.

It didn’t. Molly took back her hand and said, “I’m
all out of time.”

“What are you talking about? Are you sick? I can
help. I mean . . . I can take care of you.”

Molly bit her lip in a way he found utterly
adorable. She wiped at her eye with a sleeve. “That, right there, is why I
don’t want to go. But it’s out of my hands.” Another glance at the watch. “As
it is, I’m breaking the biggest rule there is, letting you see this. But you
know what? Fuck it. I don’t care.”

“What are you talking about? See what? You make it sound
like you’re being forced out.”

Molly tapped the side of her nose a couple of
times, and pointed at him, Charades-speak for, You got it, big guy.

She did something that really scared him—for a
moment her eyes rolled into the back of her head. He thought she was having
some kind of pre-predicted stroke. A moment later, she was fine. She said, “I
left you something.”

“Left me what?”

She took another look at her watch. Perfect woman
or not, that was starting to annoy him. But it was contagious. He looked at his
own: 9:45am.

“Good-bye, Sam. Take care of yourself.” Molly
turned away.

Sam moved to grab her arm, to hold her and not let
her go. He touched her shirt for a split second and then—nothing.

She didn’t step. She didn’t jump. She never moved.
There was no sound.

Molly flickered like a bad TV screen and ceased to
exist.

Author bio:

Eric Griffith is the author of the sci-fi novel BETA TEST from
Hadley Rille Books, which Publishers Weekly called “an unusually lighthearted
apocalyptic tale.” By day he works as the features editor for PCMag.com.
By night he sneaks out of the house to write fictions. He currently lives in
Ithaca, New York. You can follow his online exploits daily via http://egriffith.info

When I first started reading this
book I thought it was like a “B” movie.I mean here was this story in third-person limited following this schlep,
Sam, a big beefy, man who is secretly in love with a pixyish woman, Molly, at
his office.His office is a Dilbert-ish
office, complete with his best friend, office loud mouth Melvin.

Then the day he finds out that the
girl he likes also likes him, she quits.He follows her down the stair and they share a sweet kiss.He offers to go with her, take care of her,
unable to understand what is going on… when she vanishes.(GASP, what?!?Then what?)

Well that was certainly a sharp
twist.Now I really want to read the
story. This twist definitely moved it up
to an A+ grade.Unfortunately due to
computer error, I only received the first chapter… thus the gasp, what?, and a
sharp cry because I SO want to know what happens next.

I give this preview a 4 out of 5,
leaning toward 4.5 with the fabulous twist in the end of chapter one (be sure
to read the excerpt).

This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.

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Do you like to read? Have you ever stayed up waaaayyy to late reading? Then this is the spot for you. Join me as I review books, link to other fabulous book sites, and please respond with your comments as well. This is the spot for the eclectic book reader. I love all kinds of books, in any format (book, e-book, chapters in a magazine... heck I even read the back of the cereal box every time). I can't wait to share my love of books with you and see what has captured your attention as well.